Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Growth ETF
$341.45−2.61 (−0.76%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.05%
- Fund size
- $44.7B
- 1Y return
- +13.5%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.44%
- Holdings
- 579
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $344.11
- 52W range
The ETF.net VBK Grade
Score 72 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 79Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 96Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 32Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 49Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 81Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 83Category rank
Our read on VBK
AThe small-cap outlier in a growth aisle dominated by mega-cap names. About 600 smaller U.S. growth companies, tracked by full replication for 0.05% a year, run by Vanguard since 2004.
Seeks to track the CRSP US Small Cap Growth Index, representing growth companies among small-capitalization U.S. equities. The fund uses passive full replication and remains fully invested.
Why people hold it
- Costs 0.05% a year against a 0.18% median across its growth peer group, and sits in the same fee neighborhood as large-cap giants like VUG and SCHG while indexing a much thinner slice of the market.
- Plain mechanics: full replication of the CRSP US Small Cap Growth Index, fully invested, no manager discretion. Roughly 600 holdings spread out the single-name risk that comes with small companies.workplace.vanguard.com
- Live since 2004 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, with a long record of hugging its index closely. Distributions land quarterly.
- One of the stronger implementations in its growth cohort: the cheap, wide, rules-driven way to own the small end of the style box rather than a stock-picker's version of it.
Worth knowing
- Small-cap growth is the market's jumpiest corner, and the fund stays fully invested through every drawdown. There is no cash buffer or defensive tilt to soften the ride.
- This is a style slice, not a portfolio: U.S. only, small caps only, growth side of the index only. What qualifies is decided by CRSP's rules, not by a manager's judgment.
- Trades in solid but not headline volume, so spreads can run wider than the mega-cap growth ETFs it shares a shelf with.
VBK Holdings
- Stocks
- 579
- 11%
- SLCMT1142
Sectors
- Technology27.5%
- Industrials19.8%
- Health Care19.6%
- Consumer Discr.8.9%
- Financials6.1%
- Energy4.0%
- Communication3.8%
- Real Estate3.7%
- Materials3.5%
- Cons. Staples2.3%
- Utilities0.9%
Geography
- United States96.52%
- Cayman Islands1.54%
- United Kingdom1.39%
- Ireland0.24%
- Switzerland0.17%
- Bermuda0.14%
VBK Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | VBK |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +14.1% |
| 1 month | −4.1% |
| 3 months | −3.8% |
| 1 year | +13.5% |
| 3 years | +18.0% |
| 5 years | +4.0% |
| 10 years | +10.6% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | VBK |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +14.1% | |
| 2025 | +8.5% | |
| 2024 | +16.5% | |
| 2023 | +21.4% | |
| 2022 | −28.4% | |
| 2021 | +5.7% | |
| 2020 | +35.4% |
VBK in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on VBK yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
VBK Dividends
- 0.44%
- $1.53
- $0.37 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 26, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.37 |
| Mar 27, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.34 |
| Dec 22, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.39 |
| Sep 29, 2025 | Oct 1, 2025 | $0.43 |
| Jun 30, 2025 | Jul 2, 2025 | $0.42 |
| Mar 27, 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 | $0.40 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | Dec 26, 2024 | $0.40 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.29 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jul 1, 2024 | $0.41 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 26, 2024 | $0.40 |
| Dec 21, 2023 | Dec 27, 2023 | $0.62 |
| Sep 21, 2023 | Sep 26, 2023 | $0.31 |
VBK Risk
- 19.5%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.62
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −38.4%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.17
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
VBK Cost
- The middle half of US Growth Index funds
- Median 0.18%
4 of the 35 US Growth Index funds charge less.